The present invention relates to a digital camera with an integral printer for printing an interface onto an surface to produce an interface surface, and, in particular, for printing photos as interfaces.
The invention has been developed primarily to produce interface surfaces which allow users to interact with networked information and to obtain interactive printed matter on demand via high-speed networked color printers. Although the invention will largely be described herein with reference to this use, it will be appreciated that the invention is not limited to use in this field.
Various methods, systems and apparatus relating to the present invention are disclosed in the following co-pending applications/granted patents filed by the applicant or assignee of the present invention on Jun. 30, 2000: 09/609,139, 09/608,970, 6,678,499, 6,679,420, 09/663,599, 09/607,852, 09/607,656, 6,776,942, 09/663,701, 09/663,640, 09/609,303, 09/610,095, 9/609,596, 09/693,705, 9/607,843, 09/607,605, 9/608,178, 9/609,553, 09/609,233, 9/609,149, 09/608,022, 09/609,232, 9/607,844, 6,457,883, 09/607,985, 6,398,332, 6,394,573, 6,622,923, 6,238,044, 6,425,661, 6,471,331, 6,676,250, 6,347,864, 6,439,704, 6,425,700, 6,588,952.
The disclosures of these co-pending applications are incorporated herein by cross-reference.
Various methods, systems and apparatus relating to the present invention are disclosed in the following co-pending applications/ranted patents filed by the applicant or assignee of the present invention on 23 May 2000: 09/575,197, 09/575,195, 09/575,159, 09/575,132, 09/575,123, 09/575,148, 09/575,130, 09/575,165, 09/575,153, 09/575,118, 09/575,131, 09/575,116, 09/575,144, 09/575,139, 09/575,186, 6,681,049, 6,728,000, 09/575,145, 09/575,192, 09/575,181, 09/575,193, 09/575,156, 09/575,183, 09/575,160, 09/575,150, 09/575,169, 6,644,642, 6,502,614, 6,622,999, 6,669,385, 6,549,935, 09/575,187, 6,727,996, 6,591,884, 6,439,706, 6,760,119, 09/575,198, 6,290,349, 6,428,155, 09/575,146, 09/575,174, 09/575,163, 6,737,591, 09/575,154, 09/575,129, 09/575,124, 09/575,188, 09/575,189, 09/575,162, 09/575,172, 09/575,170, 09/575,171, 09/575,161, 6,428,133, 6,526,658, 6,315,399, 6,338,548, 6,540,319, 6,328,431, 6,328,425, 09/575,127, 6,383,833, 6,464,332, 6,390,591, 09/575,152, 6,328,417, 6,409,323, 6,281,912, 6,604,810, 6,318,920, 6,488,422, 09/575,108, 09/575,109, 09/575,110, 09/575,135, 09/575,157, 09/575,167, 09/575,120, 09/575,122.
The disclosures of these co-pending applications are incorporated herein by cross-reference.
Cameras are used to capture photos. Traditional cameras capture photos on film. The film is developed and the photos are printed. The negative, i.e. the original developed film, provides a source from which new prints can be optained. The advent of high-quality scanning also allows a print to act as a source of copies, although not with the same quality as from a negative. If either a negative or a print is damaged, the quality of a subsequent copy is compromised.
Digital cameras capture photos as digital images which can be both displayed and printed. A digital image thus acts as a digital xe2x80x9cnegativexe2x80x9d. However, many users find the task of printing and otherwise managing digital images onerous.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a new method and system for capturing and printing a photo.
According to a first aspect, the present invention provides a camera for capturing an image and printing a first interface onto a first surface, in response to a user input, and for printing a second interface onto a second surface, in response to first indicating data received from a sensing device, the first indicating data being sensed by the sensing device from first coded data, the first interface including the first coded data, the camera including:
(a) a camera module, including an image sensor, configured to:
(i) receive a user input; and
(ii) capture, via the image sensor and in response to the user input, the image;
(b) an input module configured to:
(i) receive, from the sensing device, the first indicating data, the first indicating data being at least partially indicative of response data;
(ii) generate second indicating data based on the first indicating data, the second indicating data being at least partially indicative of the response data;
(iii) send the second indicating data to a computer system; and
(c) a printing module, including a printing mechanism, configured to:
(i) receive, from the camera module, the image;
(ii) generate the first interface based at least partially on the image;
(iii) print the first interface onto the first surface using the printing mechanism;
(iv) receive the response data from the computer system;
(v) generate the second interface based at least partially on the response data; and
(vi) print the second interface onto the second surface using the printing mechanism.
Preferably, the second interface includes second coded data, wherein the printing module includes a coded data generator configured to generate the second coded data based on at least part of the response data. More preferably, the response data includes second region identity data indicative of at least one identity, the identity being associated with a region of the second interface, the coded data generator being configured to generate the second coded data based on the second region identity data, the second coded data being indicative of the identity.
In a preferred embodiment, the second interface includes visible information in addition to the second coded data, the visible information being based at least partially on the response data.
Preferably, the second coded data is also indicative of at least one reference point of the region. More preferably, the at least one reference point is determined on the basis of a coded data layout.
Preferably, the printing module is configured to receive the coded data layout from the computer system.
In one embodiment, the camera further includes storage means for storing a plurality of the coded data layouts, the printing module being configured to:
receive, from the computer system, layout selection information indicative of one of the coded data layouts; and
use the layout selection information to select one of the stored coded layouts for use in determining the at least one reference point.
Preferably, the first indicating data includes location data sensed by the sensing device from the first coded data.
In one preferred form, the first indicating data includes first region identity data sensed by the sensing device from the first coded data, the first region identity data being indicative of an identity associated with a region of the first interface, the region being at least partially indicative of the response data.
In another preferred form, the first indicating data includes location data sensed by the sensing device from the first coded data, the location data being indicative of a location within the region, the location within the region being at least partially indicative of the response data.
Preferably, the second coded data includes at least one tag, each tag being indicative of the identity of the region.
Further objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the detailed description that follows.